The present disclosure relates generally to process automation, and more particularly to automatic control of a drilling apparatus.
In the hydrocarbon industry, the process of drilling into a hydrocarbon reservoir may be impeded by a wide variety of problems and may require monitoring/interpretation of a considerable amount of data. Accurate measurements of down hole conditions, down hole equipment properties, geological properties, rock properties, drilling equipment properties, fluid properties, surface equipment properties and/or the like may be analyzed by a drilling crew to minimize drilling risks, to make determinations as to how to optimize the drilling procedure given the data and/or to detect/predict the likelihood of a problem/decrease in drilling efficiency and/or the like.
Similarly, in hydrocarbon exploration, hydrocarbon extraction, hydrocarbon production, hydrocarbon transportation and/or the like, many conditions may be sensed and data gathered to provide for optimizing and/or preventing/mitigating issues/problems concerning the exploration, production and/or transportation of hydrocarbons. Hydrocarbons are essentially a lifeblood of the modern industrial society, as such vast amounts of hydrocarbons are being prospected, retrieved and transported on a daily basis. Associated with this industry are an enormous amount of sensors gathering enumerable amounts of data relevant to the exploration, production and or transportation of hydrocarbons.
Accurate analysis of operating conditions may allow for an operator to operate the industrial process at near optimal conditions. For example, in the hydrocarbon industry, the bit-response to changes in parameters such as drill-bit rotational speed and weight-on-bit (WOB) while drilling into a hydrocarbon reservoir is very much affected by changes in the lithological environment of drilling operations. Accurate and real-time knowledge of a transition from one environment to another, e.g., one formation to another, and real-time analysis of how such environmental conditions impact the effect that parameter changes are likely to have on bit-response may greatly improve the expected rate of penetration (ROP). Such analysis and modeling is described in U.S. Patent Application No. 2011/0220410 incorporated in its entirety by reference herein.
With regard to the hydrocarbon industry, some techniques have been used for detecting a certain type of event, i.e., possible rig states, such as “in slips”, “not in slips”, “tripping in” or “tripping out”. These systems take a small set of rig states, where each rig state is an intentional drilling state, and use probability analysis to retroactively determine which of the set of intentional drilling states the rig has moved into. Probabilistic rig state detection is described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,128,167, the entirety of which is hereby incorporated by reference for all purposes.
In the hydrocarbon industry, there are ever more and better sensors for sensing data related to the exploration, extraction, production and/or transportation of the hydrocarbons. Use of the sensed data to better control/automate processes to the drilling of wellbores would be desirable.